Eccleston Naked

As previously reported, former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston and Torchwood’ Naoko Mori (who appeared as the Ninth Doctor and Dr Sato in 2005’s Aliens of London) are set to co-star in a BBC biopic of the later years of John Lennon this evening.

The one-time Ninth Doctor is playing Lennon; meanwhile Mori, who left Torchwood in 2008 with the death of her character, plays Yoko Ono Lennon.

Eccleston spoke to The Big Issue recently about playing former Beatle John Lennon, who was murdered in 1980, as well as playing the lead role in Doctor Who. Despite his short tenure on the show, it continually seems Christopher Eccleston is very proud of his time as the Doctor.

â€œDoctor Who is hugely important,â€ he says, â€œbecause youâ€™re trying to write and perform intelligently for children. Theyâ€™re a much more rigorous audience than an adult audience.

â€œTheyâ€™re much harder to hoodwink. With Doctor Who, what youâ€™re doing is creating an appetite in children to look for challenging, good stuff.â€

Anyone interested in watching Lennon Naked should bear in mind the title – it really is warts and all.

â€œWe should all understand that raising human beings up to god-status always leads us into trouble,â€ he says. â€œWeâ€™re crediting the John Lennon fans with intelligence to make up their own minds. And also to understand that he was a man. He was not Tinkerbell.â€

Here’s a clip from the film, which covers Lennon’s life from 1967-1971 – basically covering ther break up of the Beatles and his first steps as a solo artist, not to mention his intriguing relationship with Yoko Ono.

Catch Lennon Naked on BBC Four tonight 9.30-10.55pm as part of their “Fatherhood Season”, and look out for repeat showings over the next few weeks.